3rd December – Rejooice And Be Grateful – Rev. Bridget Spain
10th December – Caring For Yourself And Others – Rev. Bridget Spain
17th December – Service of Carols & Readings
24th December – A Betjeman Christmas – Sermon by Rory Delany, Service by Rev. Bridget Spain
25th December at 11am – Christmas Day – Rev. Bridget Spain
31st December – Service of Favourite Readings & Music
The service on 31st December will be followed by a short communion service.

Sermons, childrens’ stories and meditation prayers from all Sunday services are recorded and can be accessed from our website on the Recordings page . There are also three podcasts on the I-Tunes Music Store with the three sections updated weekly. Search there for “Dublin Unitarian Church”.

Saturday 9th December @ 8pm
REACH Carol Service for the LGBT community

Church Clubs & Groups Meeting in December 2017

Film Club
The next Film Club meeting will be on Wednesday 6th December at 7pm in the Lantern Centre, Synge Street. This time around they will watch the film The Painted Veil (UK 2006) based on the 1925 story by Somerset Maughan.Book Club
The Book Club meet to discuss a book on the last Wednesday of the month but as that day is between Christmas and the New Year, it has been decided to take a break and reconvene in January.

If you want to get a head start, they will discuss Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens at their next meeting on Wednesday 31st January.

Theatre Club
A group of congregation members (led by Patrick Rogers) like to go to the theatre every now and again. They plan to go to The Grimm Tale Of Cinderella at Smock Alley Theatre on Friday 8th December.

If you’d like to join them on any future trips, make contact with Patrick at email hidden; JavaScript is required and he will be glad to give you more information.

Walking Club
The Walking Club like to go and walk in places around Ireland (mostly near to Dublin) roughly once a month.

This month, they plan to walk in Avondale Forest on Saturday 16th December. Rendezvous point is Coffin Shed Coffee shop in Rathdrum Village at 11am. Warm clothing, wet gear and boots are advised together with a picnic lunch and warm drinks and / or water.

If you would like to know more, or would like to join them on future walks, please contact Marcus email hidden; JavaScript is required

Publications

The church have published two volumes of all issues of Oscailt published in 2005 and 2006. These are available from the church directly for €15 each.

The church has also recently unveiled a new greeting card featuring a sketch of the church by longtime congregation member George McCaw. This can be purchased in the church after service or online.

The cards, as well as other books of sermons and childrens stories published by the church are available from the website and we take payment through Paypal.

Events In The Church – December 2017

Friday 1st December
Music Matters Christmas Concert
6.30pm
Tickets €12 at the door

Join the Music Matters choir and friends for an evening of music and festive fun.

2017 has been a hugely successful year for Aoife. Following the successful release of her song “Grace”, with her cousins Danny O Reilly and Róisín O, which went straight to #1 on iTunes charts in March, and having headlined one of the the largest Irish Festivals in the world – Milwaukee Irish Festival her groundbreaking World Tour to support her debut CD which included Australia, New Zealand, U.S.A and Europe, Aoife is delighted returning to home for Christmas in Dublin City.

Friday 8th December
Trinitones: How The Tones Stole Christmas
Andy Keenan (director)
A concert in aid of the Mansion House Fuel Fund
7.30pm (show)
Tickets €12 (adults) / €5 (students / kids) available at the door or from www.ti.to

Trinitones, Trinity College Dublin’s all-male a cappella group, return to the Unitarian Church on December 8th to put on their Christmas concert in aid of the Mansion House Fuel Fund. Well-known for their unorthodox brand of performance, the group will be giving their own take on a range of classics both traditional and contemporary, including pieces from the likes of Holst, Sheeran, Beethoven, and Seuss. We hope to see you there for what is bound to be an extremely enjoyable evening’s entertainment and WHO knows; maybe the Trinitones will finally succeed in their bid to steal Christmas!

This is the 3rd consecutive year the wonderful Eleanor Shanley and friends give a pre Christmas concert in the stunning Dublin Unitarian Church on St. Stephens Green.

Eleanor will be joined by Paul Kelly (mandolin & fiddle), Niall Hughes (guitar & double bass) and special guest is Garadice. This show has sold out each year to date, so make sure to get your tickets early!

After the sold-out Halloween season we’re back at the stunning 19th century Unitarian Church for our follow up series of family-friendly Christmas movie events. Expect an 8K projector & large cinema screen showing our favourite yuletide classics on the big screen, right in the centre of Dublin on the corner of St. Stephen’s Green.

When bratty 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) acts out the night before a family trip to Paris, his mother (Catherine O’Hara) makes him sleep in the attic. After the McCallisters mistakenly leave for the airport without Kevin, he awakens to an empty house and assumes his wish to have no family has come true. But his excitement sours when he realizes that two con men (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) plan to rob the McCallister residence, and that he alone must protect the family home.

After snarky youth Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) loses track of his father at the airport, he mistakenly gets on a plane headed for New York City — while the rest of the McCallisters fly to Florida. Now alone in the Big Apple, Kevin cons his way into a room at the Plaza Hotel and begins his usual antics. But when Kevin discovers that the Sticky Bandits (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) are on the loose, he struggles to stop them from robbing an elderly man’s toy store just before Christmas.

The Muppets perform the classic Dickens holiday tale, with Kermit the Frog playing Bob Cratchit, the put-upon clerk of stingy Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine). Other Muppets — Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Sam the Eagle — weave in and out of the story, while Scrooge receives visits from spirits of three Christmases — past, present and future. They show him the error of his self-serving ways, but the miserable old man seems to be past any hope of redemption and happiness.

Buddy (Will Ferrell) was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler and raised to adulthood among Santa’s elves. Unable to shake the feeling that he doesn’t fit in, the adult Buddy travels to New York, in full elf uniform, in search of his real father. As it happens, this is Walter Hobbs (James Caan), a cynical businessman. After a DNA test proves this, Walter reluctantly attempts to start a relationship with the childlike Buddy with increasingly chaotic results.

An evening of live ambient music featuring live A/V performances from Lerosa, Sunken Foal & Mantle. An 8K projector, large cinema screen and serious soundsystem will be deployed to stunning effect. Capacity is limited and tickets are on sale now.

Lerosa:
Lerosa is an Italian producer based in Dublin with productions on labels like Uzuri, Osgut Ton & Million of Moments. He is also an acclaimed underground DJ with a reputation for whipping eclectic selections of house, techno and Italo into a heady dancefloor mix. This will be his debut live ambient set, created specifically for this gig.

Sunken Foal:
Sunken Foal has been writing, performing and producing electronic and acoustic music for almost 20 years. Under monikers Sunken Foal and Press Charges, and as a member of Ambulance and The Natural History Museum he has released on Planet-Mu, Black Acre, Acroplane, The Fear, Front End Synthetics, U:Mack, Heresy and Countersunk. Championed by BBC6 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs, Donal Dineen and the late John Peel, Dunk’s music covers a large area showcasing his deep knowledge of synthesizers, grooving rhythms and plucked instruments as well as a keen ear for a unique sound and emotive melody.

Dunk has collaborated on many audio visual ventures with Tim Redfern over the years where the duo seek to explore the visceral, kinetic links between music and the moving image. Their current live show fuses warm waves of sonic texture with slowly morphing pastoral imagery.

Mantle:
Mantle is the new collaborative music project between producer Eoin Cody aka The Third Policeman and artist Kevin Kirwan. More on this pair of likely lads soon.

The Voice Squad feature annually at the Steeple Sessions at Christmas and are always a complete sell out. It’s no wonder, as for atmosphere, setting and songs, you won’t experience anything as Christmassy as their perfect a capella harmonies on traditional seasonal numbers such as The Coventry Carol and The Holly & The Berry and then of course there’s The Parting Glass.

Ireland and the UK’s hottest emerging folk-singer Daoirí Farrell, winner of two 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at the Royal Albert Hall this year. Following his success, Daoiri has been flat out touring the UK, the US and Canada. Cited by Donal Lunny as “one of the most important singers to emerge this decade’, this will no doubt be a very special homecoming gig for this popular Ballyfermot Boy who has come full circle having cut his teeth performing at the Steeple Sessions in 2011

Galway’s favourite harmonisers; The Whileaways. Their Christmas single “Everyone” sees the three distinct voices combining to weave a beguiling tapestry of harmonies and beautifully crafted lyrics by Nicola Joyce. Described by the Irish Echo as their favourite ‘Eirecana’ band (a blend of Americana, harmonies and Irish Folk), the Whileaways sound is totally true and their performances gloriously engaging but hey, we recommend you check it out for yourself. Hailed as ‘a knockout of the festival’ at the legendary Port Fairy Folk Festival in Australia, they have continued to make waves in the folk music scene both at home and abroad since then.